Barely 24 hours after Professor Mahmoud Yakubu ended his tenure as Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Wednesday, issued an order for his immediate arrest.
The court forwarded the order to the Inspector General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun.
Trouble came to Yakubu over a case by the Action Alliance (AA), challenging INEC and its immediate past chairman, Prof Yakubu, over the commission’s non-compliance with the judgment of the Court delivered by Justice Funmilola Demi-Ajayi in suit number FHC/OS/CS/194/2024.
The court had in the said judgment ordered INEC to put the names of the National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Adekunle Rufai Omoaje, and other members of the party’s National Executive Committee on the INEC portal.
The Court also held that the names of all the state chairmen of the AA be uploaded on the INEC portal.
The court held that the elective convention of the AA held on the 7th of October, 2023 which produced Omoaje as the national chairman of the party and other NEC members of the party was authentic as it was properly monitored and supervised by officials of INEC in accordance with the party’s constitution and the electoral acts.
Although INEC claimed to have complied with the court judgment, the party disagreed with the commission, as the name of Omoaje was yet to be uploaded on the commission’s website despite the orders of the Court.
The names of the state chairmen of the party under the leadership of Omoaje and those of the NEC members are already on the INEC portal, but Omoaje’s name had yet to be uploaded as of press time, a development that the court frowned at.
The court order dated 7th October, 2025, and signed by Mr O.M. Kilani, on behalf of the Court Registrar, read in part, “It is hereby ordered that the Inspector General of Police shall cause the arrest and shall charge the defendant/judgment debtors for contempt and committal proceedings within seven days of this ruling.”
The court also awarded a cost of N100,000 against the judgment creditors.
